Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A01—AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
  • A01J—MANUFACTURE OF DAIRY PRODUCTS
  • A01J7/00—Accessories for milking machines or devices
  • A01J7/04—Accessories for milking machines or devices for treatment of udders or teats, e.g. for cleaning

Definitions

• the present invention relates to an apparatus according to the preamble of claim 1 for cleaning the teats of animal.
• the German patent DE 127 384 describes a device with a plurality of elongated brushes mounted vertically on a holder.
• the brushes can rotate about their vertical central axis and have horizontally projecting bristles which can brush the surface of any teats introduced vertically down between the brushes.
• the bristles are pushed down and away from the tip of the teat.
• a problem with this device is that when the teat is fed down between the brushes it its downward movement is resisted by the bristles and the teat is axially compressed. This causes skin folds or increases the depth of the skin folds already present and leads to inadequate cleaning of the teat.
• An object of the present invention is to overcome the problems of the prior art teat cleaning devices. These problems are overcome by a teat cleaning device having the features mentioned in the characterising portion of claim 1.
• the vertically mounted rotatable bnishes are provided with a cleaning surface which is arranged in a spiral or helical shape.
• the rotating brushes can be made to grip the teat and drag it downwards. This stretches the skin of the teat thereby reducing or eliminating the skin folds and allowing the cleaning surface to clean substantially the whole of the surface of the teat.
• Figure 1 is a view from above of one embodiment of a brush arrangement for a cleaning device according to the invention
• Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view along line II-II of figure 1.
• Figure 3 is a schematic perspective view of a roller according to a second embodiment of the invention.
• FIG. 1 shows a simplified view from above of a teat cleaning device 1 in which driving and supporting parts non-essential for the understanding of the invention have been omitted for the sake of clarity.
• Teat cleaning device 1 comprises a box-like holder 3 with a teat receiving opening 5 in its upper surface 7.
• Holder 3 is intended to be placed under the udder of an animal to be milked with opening 5 below a teat which is to be cleaned. Holder 3 is then raised so that the teat enters the holder through opening 3.
• Holder 3 contains a plurality of cleaning means 9 shown here as elongated cylindrical brushes 11 with bristles 13.
• Holder 3 also contains cleaning fluid supplying means (not shown) and preferably drying air supplying means (not shown).
• Brushes 11 are each orientated with their longitudinal axis substantially perpendicular to the plane of upper surface 7 and are arranged in a circle with a central space 15 able to receive a teat.
• Brushes 11 are rotatably mounted on holder 3 and can be rotated by driving means (not shown) of any suitable type. There are preferably an even number of brushes 1 1 and each brush 11 rotates in the opposite direction to its neighbouring brushes 11 as is shown by the arrows. Brushes 1 1 have preferably radially projecting bristles 13 attached by their proxial ends 1 " to a central longitudinal shaft 20. For the sake of clarity of illustration the bristles are shown in the figures as individual bristles but they naturally can be formed by tufts or bunches of bristles. The distal ends 19" of bristles 13 define a cleaning surface 17.
• bristles 13 are arranged in spiral patterns 21 on the brushes 11 so that the cleaning surface 17 has the shape of a screw thread.
• the thread 23 of the spiral pattern 21 on each brush is 11 adapted to the intended direction of rotation of the brushes 11 as shown by the arrow so that a teat 25 received in the central space 15 would tend to be drawn downwards by friction between the tips 19 of the bristles 13 of the rotating brushes 11 and the teat 25.
• the use of counter-rotating neighbouring brushes 11 prevents the teat 25 being drawn sideways out of the central space 15.
• the holder 3 is lifted vertically with a vertical speed v and the teat 25 to be cleaned 19 enters the holder 3 it comes into contact with the rotating brushes 11 and is drawn down into the holder by the spiral patterns 21 on the cleaning surfaces 17 at a rate which is greater that the vertical speed v of the holder 3.
• This causes the teat 25 to be stretched downwards and any folds of skin are stretched out and drawn smooth. This permits a more thorough cleaning of the teat surface.
• the pitch of the spiral patterns 21 increases from the top to the bottom of the brushes 11 in order to ensure that the tip of the teat 25 is stretched.
• the drive to the brushes can be stopped or reversed in order to facilitate the extraction of the teat 25 from the cleaning device 1.
• the spiral pattern is formed by one or more spiral groove(s) 27 being formed in and on the cylindrical surface 17' of a cylindrical resilient rubber roller 29.
• the groove or grooves 27 have a progressivelly increasing pitch as they travel down the roller 29 in order to ensure that the teat is fully extended.
• the longitudinal axis of the brushes are inclined a few degrees to the vertical, e.g. up to 10 or 15 degrees, so that the distance between the brushes at the top of the holder is greater than the distance between the brushes at the base of the holder in order to form an inverted cone shaped central opening. In this way the tip of the teat is gripped more tightly the further it penetrates into the holder.
• the cleaning means has a substantially conical shape with a spiral pattern formed in its cleaning surface.
• any type of cleaning means for example brushes with loops or U- shaped strands of resilient thread, grooved sponges, textile rollers or their equivalents, may conceivably be used instead of brushes made of bristles and rollers made of rubber and combinations of different types of cleaning means are also possible.
• a holder containing a mixture of bristle brushes and rubber rollers or indeed to have composite rollers comprising, for example a sponge portion and a bristle portion.
• the cleaning means are adjustably mounted into the holder in order to permit the distance between the cleaning means to be varied to accommodate teats of different size.

Priority Applications (3)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=20409258

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (5)

Cited By (1)

Families Citing this family (20)

Citations (3)

Family Cites Families (8)

• 1997
  • 1997-12-04 SE SE9704517A patent/SE9704517D0/sv unknown
• 1998
  • 1998-12-01 WO PCT/SE1998/002197 patent/WO1999027773A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 1998-12-01 AU AU17919/99A patent/AU1791999A/en not_active Abandoned
  • 1998-12-01 EP EP98962758A patent/EP1035765A1/en not_active Withdrawn
  • 1998-12-01 US US09/555,772 patent/US6343566B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime

Patent Citations (3)

Non-Patent Citations (1)

Also Published As

Similar Documents

Legal Events